Ana Gabriela Esmeralda Diaz Molina (born 7 June 1977, in

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...

) is a Swedish

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Biography

Ana Diaz grew up with a Finnish-born mother and a Venezuelan father in Bäckby,

, where she early developed her interest in music. She attended music class at the Fryxellska school in Västerås. Ana's grandparents are from the

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

province in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and lived as touring musicians and composers, including in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

together with legends such as Benny Gooman and

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

. In 2000, Diaz moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. After many years in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, she returned to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

for a shorter period in 2004. There she studied

music production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

in 2004–05 at Kulturama school and also participated in 2007 as an artist with the song "Waiting for Ben" on DN På stan's CD ''Pophopp 2007''. Between 2007 and 2009, Diaz lived in Australia. After a period of much searching, odd jobs, and dealing with depression, Diaz decided to study to become a dentist. Days before she was to start studying, she was contracted as songwriter for the music publisher

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

. Diaz dropped out and began an intensive period as an international songwriter, in Stockholm, Nashville, London, Tokyo and Los Angeles. Ana Diaz has collaborated with and written songs for foreign artists such as

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...

Christina Grimmie Christina Victoria Grimmie (March 12, 1994 – June 10, 2016) was an American singer and YouTuber. In 2009, she began posting covers of popular songs onto YouTube. After releasing her debut EP, '' Find Me'' (2011), her YouTube channel reached ...

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

, Markus Schultz,

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

Sounwave Mark Anthony Spears, known professionally as Sounwave, is an American hip-hop producer and songwriter from Compton, California, and an original member of the Californian hip-hop label Top Dawg Entertainment. Sounwave has worked on every Kendrick ...

Rami Yacoub Rami Yacoub (born 17 January 1975), also known by the mononym Rami, is a Swedish record producer and songwriter and former member of the songwriting/production houses Cheiron Studios and Maratone. Yacoub collaborated extensively with Max Martin ...

Fred Ball Frederick Henry Ball (July 17, 1915 – February 5, 2007) was an American movie studio executive (management), executive and younger brother of Lucille Ball. Biography Early life Ball was born on July 17, 1915, to Henry Durrell Ball (1887–191 ...

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

Astrid S Astrid Smeplass (born 29 October 1996) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. In 2013, she placed fifth in the Norwegian version of '' Pop Idol'', entitled '' Idol – Jakten på en superstjerne''. In 2020, she released her debut studio album, ' ...

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is a British singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the British television series ''The X Factor'' in 2008, and has been signed to Epic Records, RCA Records and Syc ...

Exo Exo ( ko, 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai ...

and Swedish artists such as

Andreas Kleerup Andreas Kleerup (born 1979), professionally known as Kleerup, is a Swedish electropop musician. Career Kleerup's career as a producer, composer, songwriter and artist began in music as a songwriter, going on to tour with Teddybears and Robyn ...

, ,

Loreen Loreen may refer to: *Loreen (singer), Swedish singer *Loreen Rice Lucas (1914–2011), a Canadian author * "Loreen" (song), 1986 song by German singer Sandra See also *Loren (disambiguation) *Lorene *Loreena Loreena is a female given name. It may r ...

, Agnes,

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recogni ...

Sabina Ddumba Sabina Ddumba (born 23 February 1994) is a Swedish singer. Her music has soul, gospel, and R&B influences. Ddumba was a backing vocalist on Katy Perry's song " Walking on Air" in 2013 and has collaborated with artists such as the hip hop band Lo ...

Daniel Adams-Ray Daniel David John Adams-Ray (born 18 August 1983 in Nairobi, Kenya) is a Kenyan-Swedish singer and fashion designer. Background Daniel Adams-Ray was born in Kenya to an Indonesian mother and a father of Swedish/ Scottish heritage. His mother ...

Petra Marklund Petra Linnea Paula Marklund (; born 12 September 1984), known also by her previous stage name September, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and television presenter. Marklund started recording in professional studios around the age of twelve, and f ...

, Marcus Price,

Oskar Linnros Hans Oskar "Kihlen" Linnros (born August 15, 1983 in Sundbyberg, Sweden) is a Swedish musician. He was part of the alternative hip hop band Snook alongside Daniel Adams-Ray, before going solo and releasing his solo studio debut album '' Vilja bli ...

and Petter. She has also written music for film and in 2015 was nominated for

Roy Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

for "Best music for commercials". Then for the song "Business like a Swede" where Ana appears rapping in English. Ana has also composed music for commercials for Vision,

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

and

Harman Kardon Harman Kardon (stylized as ) is a division of US-based Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, and manufactures home and car audio equipment. Harman Kardon was originally founded in 1953 by business partners, Sid ...

. Ana was one of the songwriters behind the song "Carry on" for one of Volvo's commercials with

and

. In 2018, she was part of the team behind the music for the movie Halvdan Viking, winning a

Guldbagge Awards The Guldbagge Awards ( sv, Guldbaggen, en, Gold scarab) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the nam ...

for "Best original score". In 2015, Diaz moved back to Sweden from London after nearly 15 years abroad. After having struggled for years with anxiety, depression, she decided to pursue her own artist career with songs written for the first time in Swedish. The single "Fill my glass now" was released on October 30, 2015. "Stronger", the second single, was released on January 25, 2016. The debut EP ''Lyssna del 1'' was released on February 3, 2016 on their own label WINWIN Recordings with license agreement to

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. On October 21, 2016, the EP ''Lyssna del 2'' was released. In 2016, Ana Diaz collaborated with artist Abidaz on his album "Respektera hungern", on the song "Ghettofåglar". ''Lyssna del 1'' and ''Lyssna del 2'' were met by very positive reviews and Ana was nominated for the music award in the category "Newcomer of the Year" and

Grammis The Grammis are music awards presented annually to musicians and songwriters in Sweden. The oldest Swedish music awards, they were instituted as a local equivalent of the Grammy Awards given in the United States. The awards ceremony is generall ...

in the categories "Composer of the Year" and "Newcomer of the Year". Ana toured Sweden around the Way Out West festival and Popaganda. In 2017

Neon Gold Neon Gold Records is a New York City-based boutique record label founded in 2008 by Derek Davies and Lizzy Plapinger. Initially operating as a vinyl-only singles label, Neon Gold has launched the debut releases and international careers of m ...

released the debut EP "EP1" with the project ''Snow Culture'', a duo consisting of Ana Diaz and

Oskar Sikow Oskar Sikow (Oskar Engström) is a RIAA Gold awarded record producer and songwriter from Stockholm, Sweden. Sikow has collaborated with artists such as Kacy Hill, LANY, Skott, Erik Hassle Kaj Erik Persson Hassle (born 26 August 1988) is a Swe ...

. ''Snow Culture'' was well received in American press and the music was synced to series on both

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

. In 2017, Ana participated in SVT's program '' Jills veranda''. In Ana's section, topics such as

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

, sensitivity and

creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary w ...

were dealt openly. In 2017,

released the song "Wifi remix", where he was guest by Ana Diaz and

Jireel Jireel Lavia Pereira, born 29 March 2000 in Angola, is a Swedish rapper best known under his artist name Jireel. In 2017, he released his debut EP ''Jettad''. In 2018, he released his debut studio album, ''18'', for which he won a Grammis award i ...

. In 2018, Petter released the song "Ikväll" feat. Ana Diaz In 2018, Ana was the artist in the music documentary ''Harman Kardon Reflections'', where viewers could follow Ana's collaboration with producer

J.Views Jonathan Dagan, (born February 16, 1982) known by his stage name J.Views, is a two-time Grammy nominated musician based in New York.Volvo XC40 The Volvo XC40 is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV manufactured by Volvo Cars. It was unveiled on 21 September 2017 as the smallest SUV model from Volvo, below the XC60. Orders started in September of 2017, and manufacturing began in November 2 ...

to 3 cities in Europe (Amsterdam, Berlin and Stockholm) to explore music and the cultural scene in parallel with composing one song per city. In 2018, Ana collaborated with

Gaute Storaas Gaute Storaas (born 20 August 1959 in Bergen, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz musician ( bass) and composer, and the older brother of jazz pianist Vigleik Storaas. Career Storaas grew out of the flowering musical environment in Bergen late 70es, e ...

and wrote music for the film ''Halvdan Viking''. On 3 January 2019, it was announced that the film music had become Guldbagge-nominated. In 2020, Ana was cast for the 11th season of the Swedish TV show ''

Så mycket bättre Så mycket bättre (, "So Much Better") is a Swedish reality television show that airs on TV4 (Sweden), TV4. The basic premise is that each artist attempts to do their own version of another artist's well-known songs, with each person getting an ...

'', during the first week she performed a cover of "Vår lilla stad" by Eldkvarn.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other charted songs

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Ana Swedish songwriters Swedish pop singers Swedish people of Spanish descent Swedish people of Finnish descent Living people People from Västerås 1977 births